Saturday, 21 May 2016

Red-barred Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet

Identification of Red and Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpets is complicated by the fact that some Red Twin-spot Carpets have dark bars while some Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpets have red bars. Previously cited characters like the little indent into the bar are now considered unreliable and Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet is said to be verging on rare and needing gen detting for confirmation. Well I get loads here - nearly as many as Red - and I have been confirming them. They've been quite straightforward really - if they've had blackish bars (and typically been a bit on the small side) they've proved to be Dark-barred and if they have red bars (and typically larger) they've turned out to be Red regardless of indents. One very worn example of a confirmed Dark-barred had seemed bigger and looked like it had probably been a bit reddish when fresh, but by and large they've turned out pretty much as expected.

Red-barred Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpets are said to be rare among Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpets. So when I found 3 Carpets in Wednesday's catch and 2 hard black bars and one red I thought I'd got both species. But turns out they were 3 Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpets, all males.